Small, round creamer jug and sugar bowl set made of hammered silver. Creamer has a triangular spout opposite a flat handle with an inset green stone on top; the sugar bowl has two handles with inset green stones on top. Both dishes have raised monogram “AMS” on side.

This creamer and sugar bowl set was produced at the Kalo Shop, a silversmith shop in Park Ridge. They were purchased from the Prairie School Bookstore in 1975 by the Chicago Historical Society for $350.

Subject Description

AMS monogram may be the makers mark for Art Metal Shop.

Curatorial Statement

This silver sugar bowl and creamer set were made by the Kalo Shop, a silver workshop established in 1900 by Clara Barck Welles and an important part of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Chicago. Originating in England, the Arts and Crafts Movement came to Chicago at the turn of the nineteenth century, and here its call for a return to hand-made works and “craftsmanship” found a receptive audience. The Kalo shop, with its motto “Beautiful, Useful, and Endearing,” embodied the movement’s ideals of beauty and functionality. Welles, active in the suffrage movement, specifically hired and trained women metalsmiths as well as men. At its height, the Kalo Shop employed 25 silversmiths, and when Welles retired, three employees kept it running until 1970.